Trump names Erica Schwartz to fill leadership void at CDC
Dr Erica Schwartz is currently serving as a rear admiral in the US Coast Guard.
The months-long absence of permanent leadership at the CDC could soon be at an end, after President Trump nominated former deputy Surgeon General Dr Erica Schwartz as Director of the agency.
Currently serving as a rear admiral in the US Coast Guard, Schwartz is a trained physician and held the deputy Surgeon General role during Trump's first term. Her appointment to the CDC will depend on Senate hearings and confirmation.
If she makes it through to the role, Schwartz will end months without a permanent, Congressionally-confirmed Director, after Dr Susan Monarez was ousted from the position last August, reportedly for not supporting what she claimed were unscientific directives from HHS Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.
Monarez was initially replaced by Jim O'Neill, whose background is in tech investment and has no medical or scientific background and who served as acting CDC Director while concurrently serving as Kennedy's deputy at HHS. O'Neill lasted until February, when he transitioned to leadership of the National Science Foundation (NSF), with NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya replacing him on an interim basis.
Trump revealed the nomination on his Truth Social platform, writing that Schwartz is "incredibly talented" and "a star!"
In Schwartz, the CDC has a candidate with relevant public health experience – she worked for 24 years in the Commissioned Corps of the US Public Health Service – and no obvious links to the anti-vaccine lobby, which has come into the ascendancy in HHS agencies under Kennedy.
Kennedy was taken to task at a fractious hearing in front of the House Ways and Means Committee yesterday, repeatedly quizzed by lawmakers over cuts to vaccine recommendations and access, which were blocked by a federal judge last month, and accused of placing children at elevated risk of diseases like measles and hepatitis B virus.
Protect Our Care, a lobby group set up to push back against changes to US healthcare at the start of Trump's first term, called on Schwartz to resist unscientific and politically motivated attacks on vaccination.
The organisation's head of public health, Kayla Hancock, said: "After the last Senate-approved Trump CDC Director was forced out because she dared to question RFK Jr's anti-vax agenda, the question is: will Dr Schwartz go along with her prospective boss' chaos and conspiracy-driven anti-vax schemes — or pledge to return the CDC to a state of normalcy that actually cares about its mission of protecting all Americans from preventable disease?"
He added: "For the sake of our public health, the next CDC Director must be free and independent to encourage as many Americans as possible to protect themselves from preventable diseases without first getting permission from the anti-vaxxer-in-chief."
With pushback against immunisation policy changes growing in the US, Schwartz looks set to face a grilling when she appears at Senate confirmation hearings.
Former Surgeon General Jerome Adams, who also served during Trump's first term, said in a social media post that Schwartz "has the expertise, credibility, and integrity to lead the CDC effectively," adding: "If allowed to follow the science without political interference, she'll excel. Cautiously optimistic but encouraged by this pick."
